Hi,Just come back from the inaugural sail, thoroughly enjoyable, around 18 knots of wind gusting, with a roll or two in the sail, bumpy sea with the tide starting to run against it. I noticed that the s/s rods in the fins are sticking out at the tips, didn't feel anything from going aground, might have been when I was fiddling around, near the beach, trying to get them in straight?????

Are these dead now, or can they be repaired? I only used them for a minute or two. The button on the drive infill is missing, can that be reglued or shall I just walk into the Hobie shop and hand my wallet over??? Had to happen on a w/e!!! gggrrrrrr....

Well, that is unfortunate. Just as in a motorized prop... they can get damaged by contact with the sand or rocks on the bottom. You can simply re-insert the masts into the fins and go, but some here in the forums have done various repairs with tapes and solder type welding.

Be sure to use shallow strokes when near shore. The boat will go just as fast, but keeping the fins up and doing very short flutter strokes will prevent the fin tips from hitting bottom.

Turbo length fins are a bit more susceptible to this sort of damage due to the longer length, performance shape and materials. You could revert to the standard fins and masts if it is an ongoing issue for you.